Oil Reserves

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT OIL RESERVES - PAGE 4

NEW DELHI: African oil majors Sonatach, Nigeria National Petroleum (NNPC), Sudapet and Petrosen, are all set for an India safari on an invitation of petroleum minister Murli Deora. While India is eyeing oil and gas resources in 25 African nations, including Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan and Egypt, the visitors would explore joint investment options with Indian companies such as ONGC, IOC, Gail and RIL. Africa accounts for around 10% of global oil reserves. Six countries?

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday said it was importing 235,000 tonnes of high speed diesel after its oil reserves fell to an all-time low, leaving the country with stocks of major petroleum products that are sufficient for only four to six days. Under standard operating procedures, the government and its companies are required to maintain minimum stocks of all petroleum products for 21 days at all times to cope with any eventuality. The current situation has arisen despite the petroleum ministry informing the government about the fall in oil reserves since late October, the influential Dawn newspaper quoted sources as saying.

LONDON: Scottish explorer Cairn Energy Plc on Tuesday said independent valuer D&M has certified the in-place oil reserves in its Rajasthan block at 3.4 billion barrels, a shade lower than its own assessment of 3.65 billion barrels. DeGolyer and McNaughton (D&M) has estimated 3.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place in Rajasthan, Cairn Energy Plc chief executive Bill Gammell said. The company's exploration director Mike Watts said that according to Cairn's assessment, the six fields in the northern part of the block contain 2.2 billion barrels of oil reserves and the 15 other discoveries in the Barmer district block contain 1.4 billion barrels in-place reserves.

NEW DELHI: Cairn India has raised crude oil reserves estimates at its Barmer fields in Rajasthan, leading to a 74% gap between private and government assessments under various nomenclature. The Indian subsidiary of UK's Cairn Energy said it now estimates oil reserves at its Barmer fields in the northern state to be as much as 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or BOE. "Discovered resource base increased from 3.7 billion BOE to 4 billion BOE in-place," said a Cairn statement.

MOSCOW: Five Russian oil companies have taken an equal share in a deal to produce and refine Venezuelan oil, Russian news agencies reported Sunday. Rosneft, Lukoil, joint Russian-British venture TNK-BP, Surgutnefnegaz and Gazprom each acquired a 20 percent stake of a company incorporated in Venezuela in October, the chief executive of Russia's top oil producer Rosneft, Sergei Bogdanchikov, told journalists during a visit to Havana. Oil reserves in Venezuela's Orinoco region are the focus of a series of projects being run in tandem with the Venezuelan government, with deputy Russian Prime Minister Igor Sechin telling ITAR-TASS that improvements to refining the regional output are a key focus.

LONDON: World oil consumption fell by 1.2 million barrels per day in 2009, the second consecutive annual decline and the largest volume since 1982, BP said in its annual Statistical Review of World Energy released on Wednesday. The world's oil production dropped by 2 million bpd, or 2.6 per cent, which was also the largest decline since 1982, the British oil major said. It said global oil refining capacity additions totalled 2 million bpd last year, with Asia-Pacific accounting for 80 per cent of the increase.

MUMBAI: Nirmal Bang has advised its investors to subscribe to Oil India IPO with long term investment objective. Oil India (OIL) is a public sector undertaking, which has been accorded "Mini Ratna Category I". The company's estimated independent proved plus probable (2P) oil reserves, as well as 93.66% of its estimated independent natural gas reserves, are located onshore in the Upper Assam basin in the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Additionally, the company has independent natural gas reserves in the Jaisalmer basin in the state of Rajasthan.

ANGOLA: India's ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has made a one-billion-dollar-offer to develop three offshore oil blocks in Angola. OVL, along with two other oil majors, has made a proposal to Angola for development of the three oil exploration blocks that currently have Sinopec of China and Angola's national oil firm Sonangol as equity participants. India's Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh took up OVL's case for a stake in the blocks that may hold sizable oil reserves, when he met Angola's Petroleum Minister Desiderio da Costa here.

MUMBAI: Reliance Money has recommended investors to "SUBSCRIBE at the higher band" to the Oil India Ltd issue with a long term growth prospects in view. Oil India Ltd, a mini ratna, is the second largest national oil and gas company in India, as measured by total proved plus probable oil and natural gas reserves and production. The company is primarily engaged in the exploration, development, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas onshore in India.

NEW DELHI: The fall in international oil prices notwithstanding, ONGC Videsh Ltd will not revise its 12.50 pounds a share buyout of Imperial Energy Corp Plc as the acquisition priced UK-listed firm's in-place oil reserves at $ 2.5-3 per barrel. "OVL has valued Imperial's 2P (proven and probable) oil and gas reserves at $ 2.5-3 per barrel and the acquisition even at current oil prices is enormously beneficial," said a source associated with the transaction. Imperial explores for oil in Russia's Siberia region and had the equivalent of 920 million barrels of proven and probable oil reserves as on December 2007, according to an audit by DeGolyer & MacNaughton.